Uttarakhand: Char Dham Yatra temporarily suspended due to heavy rain forecast
The ongoing Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand will remain suspended on Sunday due to the heavy rain alert issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for July 7-8.
The Char Dham Yatra will begin on May 3. Every year on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya the gates of the holy Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri temples are opened for the public. It is not mandatory for the pilgrims to carry a negative test report or COVID-19 vaccination certificate this year.
Free health services on the Char Dham yatra route will be provided by a private health organization. Taking stock of the situation the Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that teams of doctors and nurses from social organizations would be providing health facilities to the people across the Yatra route.
The Uttarakhand government has fixed the daily limit on the number of pilgrims. As many as 15,000 pilgrims will be allowed daily at Badrinath, 12,000 at Kedarnath, 7,000 at Gangotri, and 4,000 at Yamunotri. This arrangement has been made for 45 days.
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Each year thousands of Hindus undertake this spiritual journey. It is believed that everyone must undertake this tour once in a lifetime for attaining salvation.
The journey takes one through the enchanting travel route. The mystic Ganges and the Yamuna are seen throughout the tour. The spiritual journey is supposed to start at Haridwar. Haridwar as the name suggests is considered to be the gateway to this mystic journey.
There are four different temples located on this spiritual journey. Some devotees who do not want to trek prefer to go to the Gangotri and Badrinath temples. Both these places are easily accessible by road. Gangotri is the temple of the sacred Ganga. The Ganges originates from Gaumukh which is very close to this place.
Badrinath is a temple of Lord Vishnu. Very close to Badrinath is Mana the last village on the border of China. Several treks originate from here.
The other two temples of Kedarnath and Yamunotri are not accessible by road. Yamunotri is the place where the river Yamuna begins to flow downstream.
Kedarnath is the temple of Lord Shiva. It is not accessible by road. There is a short trek to reach the temple.
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